My Kind of Weekends/Life

Last two weekends were amazing for me, After a long period of writing my final paper I finally had some time off and decided with my friends to run at Hit the Top 2012, an up&down race with a lot of climb and a very steep downhill. The race was very nice and even though I had some foot problems I really enjoyed it, not to mention that I met with a lot of friends in a great atmosphere and nice weather. This was Adi Pasol`s first day out since his 9 months of absence so we decided to stay for one more day in Bran and do a training the next day even though we were a bit tired after the race. The plan was to reach Malaiesti and back. The funny part is that we didn`t calculate the distance or the climb and in the end realized that we did a 20k run with more than 1800m climb. Another day with great weather spent with friends on the mountain!What can one wish for more?

For the last weekend I had to go to Cheile Gradistei - Fundata to help a friend organize a mini trail/orienteering race for the company she works for. It was more than perfect as the weather was nice and sunny and I had time to run in the beautiful Moieciu area. Saturday I was alone on the second loop of EcoMarathon and I once again got mad at myself for abandoning the race but that is life!

On Sunday morning I woke up early, had some breakfast, took my bags and walked threw Fundata to Moieciu. I had time to admire all the beautiful landscapes and the peaceful morning in Fundata. In Moieciu I went to CEM and met there with Adi Bostan, Sis, Coco and Marius Vasilache. The plan was to run the last part of the 3rd loop and after Gutanu to Refugiul Batrana and back. I ran with Marius and we talked about running and stuff and we missed the path for a bit!I was not feeling very well because of the heat, but when we met Mihai Orleanu in Gutanu, that really got me going no matter what. We reached Batrana and after some time for relaxation and to admire the views we went downhill. In Moieciu we had a very nice time at CEM, with a lot of great people and incredible atmosphere that can only be found at Mihai Orleanu`s place. I traveled home with friends of Mihai that were very nice and drove me very close to my house and this way I thank them!

Overall this weekends recharged my batteries for this summer and made me realize how good is life when you are surrounded by friends and doing what you love!

RESULTS Hit the Top 2012

HTT 2012 - the teaser from ion trandafir on Vimeo.

Bucharest International Half Marathon 2012

I consider myself to be a mountain runner and even though I train all year mostly on flat, because I live in Bucharest, my body constitution helps me to be a good mountain runner. In October last year I ran my first flat half marathon, in Bucharest, at Bucharest International Marathon one week after Piatra Craiului Marathon. That race was totally unexpected for me and ended up with a decent result. When I heard about the Bucharest International Half Marathon I decided to run here and made it one of my big events for the first part of the year. My training was build up for this event and a new PB on the half marathon distance.

My training went well after the surgery in November and except a 3 week injury (shin splints) everything was going well and on schedule for the half marathon. Not even the face that one week before the race I ran Hercules Marathon should have mattered because I was feeling strong. My goal for this race was to run 4min/km and that would have meant a time around 1h 25 min or even less. The week before the race was the first recent week in Romania when I was happy that the weather is not very sunny, but to my surprise on race day I woke up and the sky was clear and the temperature was close to 26 degrees at 9 in the morning. I decided not to wear a cap (probably my first and biggest mistake). I started the race somehow a bit faster than the average pace I wanted to run this race but managed to keep it up very good, finishing the first 10.5 km loop at 4:01 min/km together with Florin Totalca. I accelerated a bit after the start of the second loop (probably my second mistake of the day) and when I came out of the shade, on the boulevard to Unirea, the sun got to me and I started filling dizzy. I stopped for a moment to drink some water and at that moment I thought I will be fine, because the next kilometer was again very fast so my morale was up again. On the climb on Victoriei Boulevard I saw Ana Rodean and calculated the time difference between us and I was again in my time for the race. After I turned on Victoriei something started feeling wrong again, my head was exploding and I started feeling dizzy again and my eyes saw the road in a blur. I knew something was very wrong and stopped again for some water and also to take my compression calves off because I just couldn`t stand anything on me at that moment even though all the race I pored water on my head and feet trying to prevent over heating. The part on Spaiul Unirii was a total hell for me as I was running and stopping to walk because I was feeling close to fainting !I was lucky on this part because I had Stefan Petre (Saty) following me on the bike and he talked to me and encouraged me no matter what so I had to continue no matter how. A big thank you to Saty! I didn`t even had power to lift my hand to take a energy gel from him. It seems that at kilometer 19th I was still with a good time, close to my performance at Bucharest International Half Marathon but the last 2.2 km was more than hell. I was mostly running (probably) or running very slow because the pace for this 2 km was 5:41/km . I can`t remember very much from this part, only that I met Gabi Solomon but couldn`t say anything to him. I reached the last straight line to the finish more dead than alive and that last meters felt like a total damnation for me as the finish line seemed so far away. I finished in a time of 1h 30 min and 3 seconds. I needed some time after the race to get my self up on my feet. Only after the race I realized that I had heatstroke and that was why my body reacted so bad this time. I need to thank all of those people who cheered for me on the race and I want to tell them I am sorry I didn`t respond but now you know why..

I have to thank my coach Emil Stanila who guided my steps this past months and also to Andra Ologu who is a great friend and she knows why! Now it is time to focus on mountain running and finishing my final paper for school. I want to get my revenge on the half marathon distance but I don`t know when and where this will happen but for sure it will!

RESULTS BUCHAREST INTERNATIONAL HALF MARATHON